PHOTOS: Postcards From Mars

Postcards From Mars

As of July 2012, NASA's Opportunity rover had survived 3,000 Martian days in the cold on Mars since landing there in 2004. NASA marked the occasion by assembling this false-color panorama from 817 images sent by the rover's panoramic camera.

JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ/NASA

Postcards From Mars

As of July 2012, NASA's Opportunity rover had survived 3,000 Martian days in the cold on Mars since landing there in 2004. NASA marked the occasion by assembling this false-color panorama from 817 images sent by the rover's panoramic camera.

JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ/NASA

Postcards From Mars

This scene combines 817 images taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. In false color, it shows the terrain that surrounded the rover while it was parked to save power during the Martian winter from December 2011 to May 2012.

JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ./NAZA

Postcards From Mars: Rovers' Exploits

Opportunity explored the walls of a crater called Victoria, where a long-ago impact had exposed layers of Martian bedrock. On one edge of Victoria was this cliff, nicknamed Cape Verde. For scale, NASA superimposed an image of the Opportunity rover, which is about the size of a golf cart.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

Postcards From Mars: Rovers' Exploits

Scientists say they have ideas about why Mars did not bloom with life, even though it used to be warm and moist like the Earth. They analyzed the soil and concluded any standing water would have been thick with dissolved minerals. This false-color image from the Opportunity rover shows bedrock in Victoria Crater.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

Postcards From Mars: Rovers' Exploits

The Mars Rover Spirit explored Gusev Crater, where it landed in 2004. It got stuck in some crusty soil in 2009, and sent its last radio signal in 2010. NASA, perhaps trying to keep expectations low, had initially said it expected the rover to last only 90 days.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

Postcards From Mars: Rovers' Exploits

Sunset on Mars, as seen by the Spirit rover. The Martian sky, salmon-hued at midday, turned blue as the sun went down.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

Mars Rover

The deck of the Spirit rover became so dusty that it almost blends into the Martian soil below, in this image assembled from frames taken by the rover's top-mounted panoramic camera. Thin Martian winds sometimes blew dust off the rovers' solar panels.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Mars

A microscopic imager on the Opportunity rover reveals mysterious shiny, spherical objects embedded in the Martian soil. The area shown is just over an inch across.

NASA

Mars

The Opportunity rover dragged one of its wheels back and forth across the sandy soil to dig a small trench -- one way to study the Martian dirt for clues to mineral composition and history.

NASA

Mars

Opportunity looked back at its tread marks, seen in this image. In a day it could drive about 9 meters, or 30 feet. At other times, either to study an interesting spot or save power, the rovers stayed put for months.

NASA

Mars

Spirit's PanCam surveyed nearby hills, dedicated to the lost crew of Space Shuttle Columbia. Spirit later drove up into the hills.

NASA

Mars

The round, shallow depression was left by a drill on the Spirit rover's robot arm called a RAT, short for Rock Abrasion Tool. The idea was to expose fresh interior material for close analysis.

NASA

Mars

Spirit's "hand" -- the tools on its robot arm -- poised in front of a rock. This one was nicknamed Adirondack. Scientists gave earthly names to features of interest on Mars.

NASA

Mars

This rock was nicknamed White Boat. The blue tinge is artificial, created because Spirit shot this image in many different wavelengths of light.